News and commentary about the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Vatican Congregation for the Faith abounds. How to understand the Vatican call for reform of the LCWR?

We’ve had so much input coming from both professional and armchair commentators that it can be challenging to remember that all the “buzz” (no matter how well articulated or compelling) is not the story. While we might resonate with what commentator says or writes, we cannot hang our understanding on it without short-shrifting our own due diligence. Part of the problem, however, lies in the fact that precious few of us have expertise in all the areas involved in this particular event.

The relationship of U.S. Catholic sisters and the Church — which includes the people, the hierarchy, the teaching, the tradition, the faith — is a complex one which intersects theology, religious life, authority, history, politics, sociology, and other spheres of life. This relationship, however, resides ultimately in the sphere of God, the one in whom each of us lives and moves and has our being.

It is out of this place in God where each of us is called to understand and engage this event. What does this mean?

1. First, understanding and engaging the Vatican call for reform of LCWR  means letting go of the devil. Our human tendency is to demonize that with which we do not agree with or by which we’ve been hurt. This devilish language is laced into many a conversation and commentary and we must make it an act of our will to have no part in it. This does not mean that we agree with everything or that we cannot give voice to our experience. Clearing out the devil gives us space to be open to grace.
2. Second, it means taking to heart WWJD. Scripture reminds us: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). We must turn first to God before we turn to our favorite news outlet, commentators, and bloggers. That’s where our grounding is lest we become mere aggregators of others’ agendas. Praying with and reflecting on this in light of the Gospel must be our home page.
3. Third, it means extending our prayer to theological reflection. “Theological reflection is a way of doing theology that starts from the experiences of life and leads to searching in faith, for deeper meaning, and for the living God. However, it is deciding how to live out of this reflective search that is the critical intention of the process of theological reflection.” (Sister Kathleen McAlpin in Ministry That Transforms: A Contemplative Process of Theological Reflection) Read more at What is Theological Reflection?
4. Fourth, it means putting faith into action. Our faith is not a museum. It is alive with the breath of God. This means that our prayer and reflection transform us and impel us to engage with the world. In this particular context that means engaging the “primary sources” of the doctrinal assessment document as well as the statements of LCWR and the CDF-appointed Delegate Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle. It also means engaging in conversation with others, including the myriad of commentators and bloggers, both those we tend to agree with and those we tend not to agree with. Click here for helpful guidelines in engaging with articles, news stories, blog posts, etc.

Let us hold all who are involved in and affected by the doctrinal assessment in our prayers. We pray that the Spirit continue to breathe new life in each one of us!

After the Vatican made its announcement about the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR ) last week, many Catholics expressed a desire to learn more about the doctrinal assessment and reflect on its meaning in light of theology, which Saint Anselm described as “faith seeking understanding.”

To assist in this, we highlighted a few areas for consideration, based on a study guide that Sister Regina Siegfried, ASC, developed for the novices with whom she works. Sister Regina is a Catholic sister in the congregation of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. She has taught at Saint Louis University and Aquinas Institute of Theology and works with new members of religious communities and with people who are in RCIA in her parish. The study guide also includes questions from Sister Amy Hereford, CSJ, a Sister of Saint Joseph and an attorney canonist.

Downloadable and printable PDFs of this reflection guide as well as of the doctrinal assessment are available at the end of this post.

The Bigger Picture

1. What are the various centers of authority in the Catholic Church?

2. Name some of the many theologies that are operative in the Catholic Church today. How would you describe the theology at work in your life? in the Church? in LCWR?

3. What do you see as the place of religious life in today’s Church? In today’s world? How might others in the Church see the place of religious?

4. Discuss the notion of human dignity and human rights in this process.

The Assessment Itself

(pp. 1-2) The Introduction situates the assessment in the background of Vita Consecrata, an expression of gratitude for years of service to the Church and for the charism of religious life.  It also mentions that the investigation of LCWR does not mean judgment on the life and faith of individual women religious.

• What do you sense is the overarching concern of the assessment?

(pp. 2-3) This section outlines the chronological setting for the assessment including the three major areas of concern that surfaced in the April 8, 2008, meeting with LCWR and Cardinal Levada: LCWR assembly addresses, policies of corporate dissent, and radical feminism.

• Familiarize yourself with the work of NETWORK and the Resource Center for Religious Institutes (RCRI)

(pp. 3-4) Documentation presented to the ordinary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)

• What are the issues at stake here?
• Where do these issues intersect in your own life?

(p. 5) Principal Findings of the Doctrinal Assessment

• What is one of the conclusions about LCWR assembly addresses?
• What issue from 1977 is still open?
• How do you make sense of the jump in the conclusion that since no clarification was offered, it  therefore is seen as an endorsement of the positions presented in talks?
• Note the discussion on prophetic office in the last paragraph. How does this paragraph agree or disagree with discussions on prophetic office by people like Walter Brueggeman, Michael Crosby, and Sandra Schneiders?

(p. 6) The Role of the LCWR in the Doctrinal Formation of Religious Superiors and Formators

• What’s the difference between “doctrinal content” and “theological education”?

(p. 7) The Mandate for Implementation of the Doctrinal Assessment

• Read Canons 708 and 709 in light of the broader context of religious life mentioned in Canon Law and lived through the centuries.
• What are the five points of the mandate of the Delegate? Do any of them strike you in particular?

(p. 8 ) Conclusion

• This is a five-year process. Any thoughts on where you will be personally in five years? Any thoughts on where you imagine religious life will be? The Catholic Church in the United States?
• The assessment calls for the formation of an advisory team. If you were on the team, what would you bring to the table?

We invite you to download this post to use for further personal reflection or in a discussion group.

• PDF Download: Resource for reflection on the doctrinal assessment of LCWR
• PDF Download: The doctrinal assessment of LCWR

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Join us for a live broadcast this evening and every weekday at 6 p.m. CT at aNunsLife.org/live. Tonight’s broadcast is “Praying with the Sisters,” a podcast where we gather around the Word of God and share prayer requests and prayers of thanksgiving with one another.

The magazine U.S. Catholic has just published three articles on U.S. Catholic Sisters. Each of them is a “must read”. I encourage you to take the time to read each one and then come on back here to offer your thoughts: what struck you? what do you have more questions about?

1) Entered into Evidence: Women religious respond to the Vatican investigation by Heather Grennan Gary, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 12-17).

This article represents a final report compiled from U.S. Catholic‘s recent survey of Catholic sisters. The survey, though acknowledge to be U.S. Catholic conducted its own “visitation” of sorts, and this final report compiles our findings. The “completely optional, unscientific online survey provided a forum for American women religious to assess the quality of their own lives, raise their concerns about the present and future religious life, and share their thoughts on the visitation process itself.”

Our sisters Angela Hibbard, IHM, and Mildred Baker, IHM, are quoted in the article.

2) Character Witnesses by Heidi Schlumpf, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 20-23).

This article offers the results of “an online survey of U.S. Catholic subscribers and website visitors about the Vatican visitation and doctrinal assessment of U.S. women religious elicited a record 1,700 responses and passionate, lengthy comments. Visitors came from all over the Internet-from both liberal church organizations and conservative Catholic blogs-to take the survey.”

3) The Sisters of Mercy aren’t McDonald’s by Sandra Schneiders, IHM, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue ( (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 18-19)

If you read no other article explaining why Catholic sisters are responding the way they are, read this one. Sister Sandra Schneiders, whose sister I am proud to be, addresses two of the most oft-asked questions about the investigation of U.S. women religious:

• If religious have nothing to hide, why would they object to being investigated by the Vatican?
• Why should religious congregations be any more immune to surprise checks by the Vatican on their quality of life than a fast-food franchise is to a surprise check by the main office on the quality of its operations and products?

Sister Sandra offers analogies of our situation as women religious to ordinary situations that most people are familiar with. Again, a must read.

We look forward to your thoughts on these articles. What struck you? What do you have more questions about?

The investigation of women religious (aka Catholic sisters or Catholic nuns) in the United States has raised many questions and concerns since it was first announced earlier this year. Here at A Nun’s Life Ministry, we’ve received a number of questions about the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing 95% of women religious in the United States. Because of the concern that so many people have shared, we’d like to open the door to your questions so that we can begin to address them with the help of experts in the field of religious life and the Catholic Church.

We would like to begin gathering your questions about the investigations. Some of the questions we’ve already received touch on the following concerns:

• why are sisters being investigated? And why only in the United States?
• is this Apostolic Visitation like the Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ?
• why are sisters upset if they have nothing to hide?
• who are Cardinal Rodé and Mother Mary Clare Millea?
• is this a friendly visit?
• why aren’t contemplative nuns and religious brothers and priests being investigated?
• should this be of concern to me as a lay person? as someone who is ordained? as a religious who is not being investigated?

In the next few weeks, A Nun’s Life Ministry will be collecting your questions as well as creating a resource page with information on the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment. We welcome all respectful questions. Please use the comment box below or email us at with your questions. We’ll keep you updated as we go along.